Easton dog deemed dangerous; owners must make safety changes

Pit bull Bruin must be kept enclosure when outside and on leash and muzzle outside enclosure

Donna Whitehead dwhitehead@wickedlocal.com

EASTON - Selectmen declared Bruin to be a dangerous dog this week. The Eastwood Lane pit bull will need to kept in a secure area and walked with a strong chain and muzzle when not at home.

The Board of Selectmen determined Bruin’s fate following a public hearing Monday night, Oct. 2. The hearing was prompted by a complaint filed by Eastwood Lane resident Mary McCormack stating Bruin had attacked her dog, Kooper, on Sept. 16 while it was being walked by her daughter and a friend.

Bruin is owned by Brianna Petti of 2 Eastwood Lane.

The selectmen’s votes came after an emotional, tense and sometimes heated two-hour hearing involving testimony from both dogs’ owners, neighbors, the town’s animal control officer and the two girls who were walking Kooper at the time of the attack.

Mary McCormack’s daughter Kate and her friend, Kate McLaughlin of Whitman’s Brook Drive, were walking Kooper, a schnauzer mix, on Eastwood Lane on Sept. 16 around 4:30 p.m. when Bruin came out of the house, ran over and attacked Kooper, according to the complaint.

Lance Petti and another family member pulled Bruin off Kooper but the pit bull was able to break free of them and attacked Kooper again, the complaint stated.

Mary McCormack said watching Kooper being attacked has been traumatic for her daughter and her friend.

“No one should have to see that,” she said.

She said it could have been the girls who were attacked instead of the dog.

“He was so vicious,” Kate McLaughlin said. “I haven’t slept a full night since it happened.”

Animal Control officer Jordan Holbrook, who just started work on Sept. 15, a day before the incident, said she examined both dogs. She recommended Bruin be kept in a fenced yard, possibly be required to wear a muzzle and that the owners consider working with an animal behavior consultant.

“I don’t believe it will happen again because the Pettis will take responsibility for it,” Holbrook said.

Brianna Petti said she has owned Bruin for five years and lived in Easton for about a year. She said her children are 7 and 11 and their friends are often at the house.

“Bruin is a great family dog,” she said.

She said the dogs got into an “altercation” and that Bruin also sustained an injury to his paw.

“I apologize to everyone for this incident,” Lance Petti said.

“I am physically walking my dog only in the back yard and have a muzzle,” Brianna Petti said.

She said they have also installed an electric fence, are looking into a kennel and have reached out to trainers.

Kristin Walter of Hyde Park testified that she has known the Pettis since 2005 and Bruin since 2013 and never seen “the slightest hint of aggression.” She has seen Bruin with the Pettis’ children and “they adore him.”

Some neighbors testified about fearing for their safety in wake of the incident.

“They’ve been good neighbors, good people,” Kate McLaughlin’s father, Hugh, said of the Pettis. But he said the two girls “escaped an attack on that day.”

“This is a horrific vicious dog,” he said. “This dog charged from the home. This was no dogfight. This was a vicious attack.”

Mary McCormack said she leaves the neighborhood to take her dog for walks now.

“I think it could happen again,” she said. “I think the safety of the general public takes precedence over someone owning a pet.

“If that were my dog as much as I love her, she would be out of my house going through behavior modification and if I was told she was a danger it wouldn’t come back,” Mary McCormack said.

At times the hearing ranged off topic as those testifying debated about payment of Kooper’s medical costs, the animal control officer’s experience, the amount of press coverage, and exactly what side of the street the attack took place.

After closing the hearing, the selectmen, voted 3-2, with Selectmen Kevin McIntyre and David Mills opposed, to declare Bruin dangerous.

McIntyre said it would take more than one incident for him to declare the dog dangerous.

“I’m a dog owner myself and I’ve been on both sides of this issue myself,” he said.

The board then voted, 3-2, with Selectman Craig Barger and Fulginiti opposed, to impose restrictions that Bruin be securely enclosed when outdoors, kept on a strong chain or leash and muzzled when outside the premises and the family provide proof of insurance against any future claims.

“I don’t know if I’d want to muzzle my dog every time I took it for a walk,” McIntyre said.

Barger also said he had “mixed feelings” about the muzzle.

But the law regarding dangerous dogs stated if the board requires the dog be leashed off-premise, it also must be muzzled.

Fulginiti had also wanted to add the requirement of providing information such as a photo or microchip to the town to easily identify Bruin. She said it would prevent Bruin from being blamed if there is another dog attack he is not responsible for.

Mills was he still concerned about the dog escaping the house again as it did the day of the incident.

“The kennel can’t help when the dog isn’t outside,” he said.

Board members agreed they’d like to see a physical fence around the property but that was not in their purview to require.

The dog enclosure provided for Bruin will be inspected by the animal control officer and building inspector.

The Pettis have the right to appeal the decision. They declined to comment after the vote.

This was the town’s first dangerous dog hearing in at least six and a half years, Murphy said.